Monday, May 7, 2012

God created man. For awhile we were bearable to Him. But then it got ugly. People acted like heathens and God knew He needed to do something or mankind would destroy each other as well as the planet.

So, He flooded the earth and saved alive the Noah family because they had their crap together. Noah was a good man and the Lord God loved him. He gave Noah instructions to save himself and his family from the impending doom. At the same time, the Lord instructed Noah to take 2 of each critter on board so as to procreate each species and repopulate the planet.

The flood came and all evil was wiped away. The Lord began with a clean slate and mankind was off and running again.

As time grew and mankind began to repopulate the planet, God saw that there was CLEARLY going to be a need for some kind of accountability factor implemented in order to keep His creation on a relatively straight and narrow path. So began the book of Deuteronomy. In this book is found all of the things God felt would help mankind to understand the best way to live with one another and be at peace as well as respecting boundaries and showing love.

As more and more time passed, God saw that the things He told His people to do didn't seem to be too clear. They still had a problem with a thing called "sin." So, He decided that in order to call attention to their sins and hold them accountable for their actions, He would need to implement some form of payment for each person to pay in order to absolve themselves of the wrongdoings they were committing throughout the year.

For an example, a man might steal something. For that theft, the man may be required to bring something to the designated location for "somethings" to be brought to in order to pay one's "sin debt." God felt that if each man had to atone for his own sins, he could have a form of forgiveness and mercy.

As time grew and grew, however, God began to see that the many rules and debts He had implemented became difficult for each man to follow. It became almost impossible for a man to follow each rule to the letter as well as bring the perfect sacrificial debt payment (goat, dove, oxen, etc.) to the right place at the right time. Mankind began to slip in their obligations to pay their sin debts. God, being a loving creator knew He would have to fix this as well. He would have to implement something new that would fix our weakness, once and for all, and give us the mercy we so obviously needed every minute of our lives.

What could God do to relieve mankind of all of the rules, rituals, ceremonies and sacrificial animals? First, one must understand that He is a God of details and therefore the rituals and ceremony. Second, one must understand that the animals were to represent a sinless being. Animals don't sin and so their blood would be used to atone for the sins of the man. But, man's sins were many and frequent and animals would undoubtedly become scarce. God could provide Himself a sacrifice (as He had before) but this would get extreme. There has to be a better way.

God, in His infinite love and wisdom, chose to send a sacrifice that would be one time for all, sinless and perfect. The real kicker however,...the sacrifice would choose to be sacrificed.

This would be a "lamb" who instead of being led to the slaughter, would go willingly just like in old times. This would be a perfect sacrifice, one without blemish, no blind eye, nor anything that would make this an unworthy sacrifice to present before God. This would be one who's blood would be spilled upon the ground only once. This sacrifice will go willingly and without hesitation.

God sent Jesus. A deity..a man...a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind for all times. He would die once. There wouldn't be the need to sacrifice Him over and over. Once He was sacrificed His job would be done and the sins of mankind would be atoned for. As mankind believed in the sacrificial lambs, he-goats, oxen, and doves, as being able to atone for their sins, they would have to believe that Jesus could do the same thing. It was a small thing to ask and an easy burden to bear.

And so it was, Jesus climbed upon the cross and allowed His blood to be shed. He gave that as a sacrifice to atone for my sins and plead my case before the throne of God. He gave His life so I could live free and at peace. He did well.